Monday, October 24, 2005

America has been been punk’d

Posted by Mickey Z on 10/24 at 05:37 AM
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  1. From the clip: “The President will be running the coutry himself the next few weeks” Ha I wish George Bush was the brains behind the White House and the Pentagram.

    In my CD player, Jello Biafra and The Melvins´ Sieg Howdy!

    Titles include The Lighter Side of Global Terrorism, Those Dumb Punk Kids (Will Buy Anything), Kali-Fornia Über Alles 21st Century, Wholly Buy-Bull, Voted Off the Island. There be members of Tool and Ministry there also. Some lyrics:

    We´ve come for your children
    We´ve come for your friends
    To save them from being respectable citizens
    A prank a day keeps the dog leash away
    Join the new Boston Tea Party
    You can´t have us
    You can´t have our money
    You can´t have our time
    You can´t have our souls
    You can´t have our lives
    Termites loose in the house of cards
    Today the mall, tomorrow the world

    and this song is only 50 seconds long but pretty:

    Voted off the island of the neck ties
    Voted off the island of the 9-to-5s
    Voted off the island of the drones
    and damn proud of it too

    Posted by Owen from Barcelona  on  10/24  at  08:02 AM

  2. Related article:

    http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=7743

    this guy has been all over this story for months.  Over the weekend I witnessed the government’s megaphone, our media, announcing what a “gangster” this Syrian president is, how there is definitely a Syrian democratic out there that we could easily place into power and that this Syrian guy would “really easy to get rid of.”

    The Washington Press, as a group, should be indicted on conspiracy charges.

    The article I linked above goes into how it is most likely that Wilson, the husband, was not the White House Iraq Group’s target here.  His wife might have been part of an undercover group that was hot on the trail of who forged the Nigerian documents about Saddam’s yellowcake purchase.

    Fitzgerald was given all of the information the Italian’s had on this forgery a couple of weeks ago.

    David Brooks of the NYTs says that this is really just a small Washington-only story… That the indictments come and then you have trials that take years, that people won’t be interested.  Will he be right?

    Let’s hope my faith in an ex-doorman from Brooklyn, whose parents came straight from County Clare, lives up to his nickname: the Bulldog.

    Not because I hate Republicans, or GWB, or Dick, or whoever...but, because it may save us from a new war and help get us out of Iraq.

    Posted by JOS from wdthu.blogspot.com  on  10/24  at  08:19 AM

  3. The following : ‘definitely a Syrian democratic out there that we could easily place into power and that this Syrian guy would “really easy to get rid of.”’

    should read as: ‘definitely a Syrian democratic PARTY out there that we could easily place into power and that this Syrian guy would BE “really easy to get rid of.”

    Posted by JOS from wdthu.blogspot.com  on  10/24  at  08:29 AM

  4. what happens here with something like this is that there will be some sort of enquiry which shares out the blame to every department without pointing the finger at individuals or making sure anyone is going to get sacked or prosecuted.

    RE: the smokes stuff - it is £5 for 20 but most of it is tax. prior to the ban they have been taxing smoking heavily as a way to get people to stop. all this means tho,is that as smokers are normally from the poorer groups in society, they have to spend more of their disposable income to finance their addiction and therefore end up paying much more tax proportional to their wages than do others.

    there surely has to be a better way than this.

    p.s. they also increase the price in such a way that it is just on the border of affordable. they never price them right out the market as this would lead to an enormous loss of revenue for the government - even more so than the tobacco companies.

    Posted by michael from scotland  on  10/24  at  08:31 AM

  5. I ain’t writin’ good today…

    “Let’s hope my faith in an ex-doorman from Brooklyn, whose parents came straight from County Clare, lives up to his nickname: the Bulldog.”

    could go any number of ways, but how about this:

    Let’s hope my faith in an ex-doorman from Brooklyn, whose parents came straight from County Clare, IS NOT UNFOUNDED AND THAT HE lives up to his nickname: the Bulldog.

    Posted by JOS from wdthu.blogspot.com  on  10/24  at  08:40 AM

  6. Catching up from yesterday...my back is great, and yes Joe, Puerto Rico is a free-smoke zone (opposite of smoke-free).  And I contribute daily...though, at 4 or 5 cigarillos a day, I don’t feel too guilty.  What would my yoga teacher think?  Of yeah, she’s my wife…

    captcha: black (lung)

    Posted by JOS from wdthu.blogspot.com  on  10/24  at  09:11 AM

  7. Morning, all.

    I agree, JOS. I have ZERO delusions that an investigation or indictments will change anything. However, a weakened president might be less likely to bomb Syria or Iran. Then again, he might go “Wag the Dog” on us. So much for that theory.

    Love the lyrics, Owen.

    As for smokes, I must admit I despise the smell of cig smoke and my quality of life skyrocketed the moment I could enter a NYC club or restaurant and not smell smoke. It especially mattered when I was giving a talk or doing a reading and didn’t have to sit there in a toxic cloud. So, while the radical in me detests the gov’t-sanctioned anti-smoke laws, a large, large part of me is happy to not be subjected to the smoke as much.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  10/24  at  09:21 AM

  8. Well, Mick, I’m a smoker, and I actually agree with you.  About 6 or 7 years ago I moved from NYC (free-smoke zone, at the time), to San Diego, CA, where the entire state was smoke free.  I was a drinker then and I couldn’t stand the damn no smoking law at first, but I eventually began to appreciate it.

    Posted by JOS from wdthu.blogspot.com  on  10/24  at  09:30 AM

  9. Good morning to all, not to mention sundry:

    This Administration’s bungling and misfeasance (to put the kindest labels I can think of on it) make me long for isolationism as the law of the land.  Murricans tend to elect idiots to the presidency, so let’s spare the rest of the world our brand of international involvement.  Let’s leave our international bases on 1/1/06, call home the various occupation armies, and stop closing bases here...and use the Army as the road construction and maintenance force, the disaster relief force, farm labor, whatever.  The Navy and the Coast Guard merge, and become the National Shipping Company.  (I don’t advocate complete isolation, obviously.) The Air Force...voila!  American Airlines!

    Nauseating regimes addicted to Murrican tax money can go the UN and ask for a piece of the $100bn we give ‘em annually under this Nouvelle Isolationism.  Any regrettable mistakes in allocation, well, nothing’s perfect is it?  Oil produced in Saudi Arabia is already paid for, to hell with ‘em re: defense.  Pay for mercenaries out of your obscene oil profits.

    Good government being an oxymoron (heavy on the moron part), I have no idea how long it would take under this plan to descend into dark and hideous theocracy as opposed to idiotic and misguided bungling in the domestic arena, but that’s pretty much a foregone conclusion anyway...it’s only the timetable that’s still being worked out.

    Adieu, mes cheres comrades, they’re pullin’ the drain-plug soon, the damnfool conservatives are gonna be ballistic over the Libby/Rove exiles.  I love my country, I just loathe its populace made up of too few right-thinkers and too many social, political, economic, and religious conservatives.

    Captch: nearly

    Posted by Mudge from Dear, dead Austin  on  10/24  at  09:36 AM

  10. I don´t smoke anymore and haven´t been to Ireland since the smoking ban was implemented but apparently it´s coming to Spain sharpish - and Spaniards love their cigarettes, shopcounters frequently have ashtrays on them beside the register. This is all smoke-and-mirrors (rimshot) getting the people to police each other as if cigarettes being harmful was a force of nature everyone must adapt to when this could just as easily be brought to the manufacturers´ doorstep when it comes to the 400-odd toxins in each one. If they can make cigarettes are bad for you they can make ones are good for you.

    Posted by Owen from Barcelona  on  10/24  at  10:29 AM

  11. Mornin Mickey and JOS and Owen ( great lyrics, Owen ), and Michael -
    Well, I’m in passionate disagreement.
    Jesus, as long as we don’t fuck with each other, absolutely everything ought to be allowed - and allowed with true good wishes, and a smile.  You guys have said that you’re OK with these bans.

    Elites have no such bans, of course.  In NYC and in Calif, there are dozens of cigar bars and smokers clubs, in which the rich can dine and sip coffee or expensive alcoholic drinks, and talk and laugh together, and puff away in peace.  When Mel Gibson is in NY, he simply rents an entire restaurant for an evening.  Since it’s a “private gathering,” he can smoke before and after his meal.  The rich always get to enjoy their lives, as they wish.  Only the rest of us are screwed here.  Of course.  And you guys say you’re OK with that.

    We ought to be able to get together - without non-smokers, and enjoy ourselves.  Just as non-smokers would rather I didn’t smoke indoors with them, most smokers would rather that there weren’t non-smokers sitting nearby glaring in their direction.  We ought to be able to operate smokers restaurants and shops and gathering places, into which non-smokers simply do not go.  But you guys, even if only because of your silence, oppose this…

    And this isn’t about health or about the welfare of the general population.  This isn’t about their desire to protect people from smokers.  This is not a grass roots movement.  It’s about corporations being able to control what we eat, drink, enjoy - how we spend our time.  And, since, in this instance, it’s pleasant for many non-smokers, they’re happy to support the corporate efforts - and corporate efforts they are.

    I don’t want to live in a dictatorship of the criminally insane, and I don’t want to live in a dictatorship of the universally healthy.  I’m looking for a world in which the perverse and twisted can share equally in a society with the healthy and “cautious.” By far, most (not all, Mickey and RMJ) of the interesting people I’ve met in my life, have been smokers.  This is not, methinks, an accident.  Smokers are all a little nuts, a little self-destructive, a little heedless of laws and norms and cautions.  They’re peripheral people, weird people, shadow people.

    Presently, the corporations are trying to create a society in which such people are viewed as dangerous to the public good.  I’m sure that most of the suits who rule the world haven’t had a smoke in years, prefer to eat salads, always get their exercise, and struggle to keep their weight down… Eventually, I suppose, such habits will become law.  These smoking bans are - without question - the first step toward such a world. 
    Yippee.

    As long as we don’t fuck with each other, everything ought to be happily allowed…

    Posted by joe from Oregon  on  10/24  at  10:51 AM

  12. Owen - I didn’t see your last post, nor your post, Mudge.  I’m sorry.  I’ll be back in a short while.  I sense a conversation in the making.

    Posted by joe from Oregon  on  10/24  at  10:54 AM

  13. You misunderstand me, Joe. I’m not big on banning much of anything but I had to be honest. I hate cigarette smoke so, of course, I was happy to now be able to hang out in places I previously avoided.

    I agree with you. Create spaces where it’s clear: smoking or non-smoking. Then let folks make up their minds.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  10/24  at  10:59 AM

  14. some places have the smoking ban in place already and i have to say that although the smokeless atmosphere and lack of smell is good, there isn’t anything that much more pleasant about smelling 100 sweaty drunk people crammed into a confined space either.

    Posted by michael from scotland  on  10/24  at  11:07 AM

  15. I am two and a half years off the weed, but I am not for the legislation of “life styles”. Here where I live, it is illeagal to smoke in parks and on the beach!

    The whole point of the inside ban, though, was the protection of workers rights. That workers should not have to suffer the dangers of second hand smoke inhalation with out their consent, making the owners liable. Thus, here in Cali, at least, Mel Gibson could not have his private party (unless he waited on it himself). This does make some kind of sense.

    PS. Does anyone know what has happened to Harry?

    captch-amount (of what?)

    Posted by Peter (the other) from California  on  10/24  at  11:31 AM

  16. Peter, the issue, in California, was framed by a real asshole, who denounced every possible opportunity for “separate but equal” opportunities for smokers.  Some restaurateurs and cafe owners argued that they themselves, smoked, their staff people smoked, and most of their customers smoked.  They argued that they would hire smokers to work with other smokers to wait on smokers.  “No!” said this pillar of morality, and his smug band of corporate boys:  “Such a system would discriminate against non-smoking workers seeking employment, and would still be bad for the health of those in your establishments.” However, there certainly are smoking and cigar clubs - expensive, private clubs, all over California.  And, Mel rented a whole restaurant in NYC, where smoking in any interior public space is illegal.  No doubt about it:  Mel smokes, happily and legally, in California…

    Mickey - I’ve always tried to be aware of the people in my environment, and their responses to my various behaviors… such is still the case with smoking.  I can’t, of course, claim that this is true for most smokers.  Like all segments of society, smokers tend to be selfish, foolish folks, heedless of the concerns of those all around them, and so, ultimately, heedless of their own best interest.  I’m still amazed to find cigarette butts lying about where people congregate to smoke, as if the powers that be aren’t looking for reasons to further restrict areas in which smoking is allowed.  I don’t blame you for not wanting to sit in a smokey room - though, somehow, I still find a smoke filled room, blended with the aroma of fresh coffee, a comforting, homey environment…
    Owen, I agree - it’s all about control and about further dividing people into opposing camps…
    Michael - yeah, now people can happily get drunk and drive home - but without that pesky tobacco odor on their clothes.  And, the elites still persist in the idea that all this is for “public health.” Drinking is dangerous, drinking and driving, even more dangerous.
    And, almost certainly, one car driven about one mile, even one of those small, super-efficient cars, probably pollutes more air than a room full of chain smokers would pollute in a week…

    Posted by joe from Oregon  on  10/24  at  12:07 PM

  17. good grief is strong enough for this so i will have to say something charlie brown wouldn’t, which is ‘suffering fuck’

    read this http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=1231684&page=1

    Posted by michael from scotland  on  10/24  at  12:31 PM

  18. i meant ‘good grief is NOT strong enough for this’ !!

    Posted by michael from scotland  on  10/24  at  12:33 PM

  19. It’s hard times to be a writer, Michael. All the good satire exists as reality.

    Even the captcha word is mocking me: color

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  10/24  at  12:35 PM

  20. I apologize for turning the conversation into a smoking debate…
    I guess I’m particularly passionate about this issue.  I could rant on at great length, and frankly, I’d very much like to…

    Mudge, no one or sundry replied to your proposal.  However, I just sent it off to our dear Mr. Rusmfeld, for his perusal.  He’s a bright, flexible guy - Princeton grad - and he’ll surely see its merit, immediately.
    I think it’s a great first step toward some sort of sanity.  Unfortunately, we’ll soon be in Syria, marching towards Damascus, so your plans may have to wait. 

    In other news, hurricane “W” is now pounding Florida but, fortunately, the government is already geared up to help save Jeb’s Presidential possibilities from storm-related damages…

    On the media clip, Chris Mathews says something like:  “Now, there’s some question about whether or not the FBI told the White House about Mr. Wilson’s investigations… So, is this a communication problem?  Maybe.  We’ll see...”
    Yeah, right, it’s a communications problem.

    There’s some question about whether or not Michael Jackson knew that those children were in his bed with him.  Maybe they didn’t wake him up to tell him they were climbing in… It might have been a communication problem…

    Posted by joe from Oregon  on  10/24  at  12:48 PM

  21. Greetings all...About smoking, I was a chain smoker for more than 30 years. One day I decided to stop, just for that 1 day. I kept doing that, continued to carry cigarettes with me at all times, and every day when the urge got really bad I would tell myself that tomorrow I would smoke but not today. After 2 years of that, I was finally able to throw away all of my cigarettes, which were very stale anyway by then.  The big issue today concerns the rights of employees to be in a smoke-free environment. Many workers are forced to accept jobs that they would rather not so you can’t argue that everyone has the opportunity to get the job that they want. For example, if smoking is allowed in the workplace someone could be denied unemployment compensation for refusing to work there. BTW, Barbara Erenright’s new book, Bait and Switch, sounds really good. Also, has anyone out there ever seen the TV movie Office Space?
    Mudge, I knew that you would like the photo yesterday because that was my Ward Churchill pose. Didn’t you notice the resemblance, or is that just wishful thinking on my part? Today you say close all of the foreign bases and convert the bases in the USA.  AH Mudge, you gotta move farther to the Left on this one. I say close ALL bases, liquidate ALL military assets, and put them in a fund for compensation of all victims of US policies.

    Posted by RMJ from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  10/24  at  01:23 PM

  22. Mudge, here is a link to the photo that I refer to....also a good article there.
    http://www.satyamag.com/apr04/churchill.html

    Posted by RMJ from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  10/24  at  01:45 PM

  23. Good morning/afternoon all of you faithful MZ’ers and Mickey of course!  Great to read that the MSM are actually playing ‘Hardball’ for a change - I’ve been away from the computer for the last 2 days and last heard how GWB got stuck into Syria (on our public broadcaster in Australia).  And who said that if it was not for the resistance in Iraq, the warmongers would have invaded Syria and/or Iran already?
    Re smoking:  a smoking ban has been in place for a few years now in all restaurants in the State of Victoria but before it was implemented, my husband and I were going to have lunch at a restaurant.  As the space was filled with smoke, Mr Helga did not want to eat there and we went to a place which was smoke-free even then, and guess what:  the food was mediocre, so in hindsight we should have eaten at the first eatery. Never mind ..
    Hope you have a good day/afternoon, all of you!

    Posted by Helga Fremlin from Daylesford, Australia  on  10/24  at  01:52 PM

  24. Does Mr. Helga know that his name is Mr. Helga, Helga?
    Just curious.
    Hi Helga, by the way.

    Rosemarie, I think the non-smokers deserve not to be fucked with… I just think smokers ought to be able to create settings of their own, in their own way, with their own property and ideas…
    For example, all of my posts, here and everywhere, have originated in my garage, in which I spend most of my “daylight” time.  It’s the only place “inside” where I smoke.  The house is, as is said, “a smoke-free” environment.  (My decision.)
    I also think that you look alot like WC, in that photo, Rosemarie.  That is, in fact, the first thought that came to mind, when I saw it.  I’m sure the Expendables will agree…
    PS -
    A letter to Cindy Sheehan:
    “...How I do I stop the vulgar pain in my chest? How do I do this? How I do I continue to breathe but cannot live? How do I do this? How do I keep my soul in my body? How do I do this? How do I close my eyes wondering if sleep should come but yet knowing if I sleep I will awaken to know this is not a nightmare but my life? How do I do this? How do I love someone with my very being but cannot ever hold him again? How do I do this? How do I go on without that sweet face that brought more joy to my life than I ever deserve—never to be seen by my eyes again? How do I do this? How do I stop the scream that no one hears but me? How do I do this? PLEASE TELL ME ... how do I live without my child, my son, my heart, my soul, my joy, my validation to my life ... Please tell me ... how do I do this? How does the world go on without Steven ... how do I do this?”

    Posted by joe from Oregon  on  10/24  at  02:06 PM

  25. Hi Joe....I agree that smokers should have rights and one way to fix that would be to change the way that the system treats the unemployed, the poor, those without medical coverage etc.  All of those who are pushed around by the “system” have a right to a toxic-free work place and all smokers also have rights. Our culture should support the rights of all groups. It could be done. Part of the problem is that those on the other side of the desk sometimes are so lacking in compassion that it has gotten to the point that everyone who is unemployed is made to feel that it is their own fault. In a recent interview Barbara Erenright brought up the point that even when people get cancer they are made to feel that it is their fault. Like they weren’t thinking happy thoughts or something and so it caused them to get sick.

    Posted by RMJ from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  10/24  at  02:25 PM

  26. Go Joe!

    RMJ, I’ve found that your stop-smoking technique described here: “One day I decided to stop, just for that 1 day. I kept doing that, continued to carry cigarettes with me at all times, and every day when the urge got really bad I would tell myself that tomorrow I would smoke but not today.”

    ...works for all addictions.  I use it myself.  I’ll use it for smokes one day soon, I hope.  Definitely when my wife becomes pregnant.

    finally:captcha

    Posted by JOS from wdthu.blogspot.com  on  10/24  at  02:44 PM

  27. “While we await the indictments to come, consider the strange history of the 1982 CIA shield law that triggered the process (as Steve Weissman explains it below). It was a backlash law, a dream law of the Right; it was a response to the 1960s, to the Church Committee’s revelations of CIA assassination plots, coup attempts, black propaganda operations and the like, to the urge to put even minimal constraints on an “intelligence” agency that had run amok in the world; and it was a response to the “rogue” CIA agent Philip Agee who named names.”

    Ironic, isn’t it?

    http://www.antiwar.com/engelhardt/?articleid=7741

    (end)

    Posted by JOS from wdthu.blogspot.com  on  10/24  at  03:08 PM

  28. Well, now…

    “A typical Washington, D.C. grand jury is about 75% African American. Fitzgerald’s is slightly more than that. This is not the kind of group Karl Rove feels at home with. He has no professional experience trying to appeal to a group like this. He has been so unsuccessful at it that his boss’s job approval rating with African Americans is now 2%, which, factoring in the margin of error, could actually be zero. To make matters statistically and demographically much worse for Rove and Scooter Libby, only 12 of the 23 grand jurors have to agree to indict them.”

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lawrence-odonnell/up-to-the-grand-jury_b_9288.html

    Posted by JOS from wdthu.blogspot.com  on  10/24  at  03:45 PM

  29. JOS, if much or most of this anti-smoking campaign is corporate funded, it’s more than likely that some or much or most of our so called health related information is, well, skewed…
    I have no idea how such things work, though I know that some 4th rate scientist looking for a grant can probably get one pretty easily, concocting a study to prove something terrifying about tobacco - or about almost anything.  I studied chemistry with a professor who used to say:  “I seriously doubt that cigarette smoking causes cancer, and I’ve never smoked, I have no bet on the race.  My problem is “Ovaltine,” not tobacco.  However, no one will ever be able to prove I’m right - you could never get the funding for such a study, and you could never publish your findings even if you could get the money to do one.”
    George Burns was interviewed when he was about 95.  The guy asked him if he still smoked cigars.  He said:  “Sure, 4 or 5 a day.” Do you still drink, at all?  “Sure, a few belts of something with bite, every day.” What does your doctor say?
    “My doctor?  Oh, he’s dead.”

    That CIA piece is fascinating, JOS.  Now, there’s a true pathogen and carcinogen, for you, the CIA.
    I’ve been following their “exploits” since “Three Days of the Condor.” Ya gotta wonder which toll is higher:  Innocents killed or injured or brutalized in WWII.  Innocents directly or indirectly killed, injured, or brutalized by the CIA…

    Rosemarie - the system has made it all but illegal for us to even try to understand each other, reach out to each other, help each other.  We have to wait for some government agency to tell the guy in the next booth that his cigarette is bothering us.  We have to get official information from the government before we can take a stand on how to treat the sick and dying.  Hell, we have to beg a doctor for a script in order to get medication for heavy pain - as if, though we’re adults, we can’t decide for ourselves whether or not we’re in serious pain, and that we need serious meds…

    Posted by joe from Oregon  on  10/24  at  04:11 PM

  30. Joe, I agree with what you say about the system. Part of that problem comes from the worship of “experts”....too much value placed on the paper chase for degrees etc. I like one definition of “expert” that I heard once. “An expert is just somebody who comes into town with a brief case.” Unfortunately the whole system, medical,legal and otherwise is based on expert worship. The Jury System has been rendered useless because of experts. Which ever side can pay the most to hire the most prestigious experts wins. All humanity has been removed from most of our institutions.

    Posted by RMJ from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  10/24  at  06:16 PM

  31. One more thing:  excellent links, Mickey and all you MZ’ers (am I repeating myself or what?) and .. that gal really has got pipes!  Also your graphics reliably make my day Mickey - thanks!

    Posted by Helga Fremlin from Daylesford, Australia  on  10/24  at  06:16 PM

  32. Hi joe,
    my husband actually DOES know that his (inofficial) name is Mr Helga - and my alias is Mrs Alan, one supposes ..
    And I really like your letter to Cindy Sheehan!

    Posted by Helga Fremlin from Daylesford, Australia  on  10/24  at  06:24 PM

  33. Hi Joe!  Hope something happens as a result of your onward forwarding of my Modest Proposal for the 21st century.

    RMJ, while I catch the reference to the arms-totin’ Churchill-o-graph, I simply do not associate your beauteousness with Churchill’s less appealing physiognomy.  Call it a flaw.

    As to military dissolution, I don’t follow you here.  A very strong case can be made that American society in general would be as racist as Manhattan in the 19th century without the habituating effects of interaction in the Armed Forces post-1948, when Turman issued his executive order integrating the Forces.  I oppose spending anything beyond a token amount outside the borders of the USA until every single person here in the richest country anywhere ever is fed, clothed, housed, educated, and healthy.  Charity begins at home.  I oppose always and everywhere the idea of reparations to anyone from anyone for any reason.  The precedent is the Treaty of Versailles in 1919...the reparations imposed then caused untold suffering only 20 years later.  If one wants to start this buggy in motion, consider the logical end to it: Reparations to the Europeans from the Mogolians for the depredations of the Golden Horde...reparations to the Iranians from the Greeks for Xerxes’s crushing defeat at Thermopylae...and let us not forget to the Jews and the Armenians for their respective genocides.  And who’s gonna pay the Rwandan genocide reparations?  If none of these merit reparations, why do any others have a claim?

    Smoking...oh dear.  I absatin.

    I’ve been in bureaucracy hell today.  I had to haul myself 12 miles away at 9am to listen to a little pisher whose father I am old enough to be tell me how to look for a job (ya muthah an me was lookin fa jobs when she was big wit’chaz, junya) or I would no longer receive food stamps.  Yeesh.  Two hours after that began, I had to be at Social Security re: disability...35 miles away.  Thence doctor-ward, 23 miles away in a completely new direction.

    I drive a 1983 station wagon that gets 9mpg because I am too poor to buy a decent car.  I am out of gas and tired and whiny.  I’m gonna go make butterscotch cheesecake in a choclate crumb crust so I’ll cheer up.  Ciao for now.

    Posted by Mudge from Dear, dead Austin  on  10/24  at  07:00 PM

  34. In a school science class, four worms were placed into four separate jars.

    The first worm was put into a jar of alcohol.
    The second worm was put into a jar of cigarette smoke.
    The third worm was put into a jar of sperm.
    The fourth worm was put into a jar of soil.

    After one day, these were the results:
    The first worm in alcohol: dead.
    The second worm in cigarette smoke: dead.
    The third worm in sperm: dead.
    The fourth worm in soil --- alive.

    So the science teacher asked the class: “What can you learn from this experiment.”

    Little Johnny quickly raised his hand and said. “As long as you drink, smoke and fuck, you won’t have worms.”

    Captcha word: run (as in “Born to...")

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  10/24  at  07:14 PM

  35. Mudge, I was wondering where you were. I was waiting for you at the airport. You stood me up and had to fly all the way back here to the frozen tundra.
    Are you implying that the integration of the Forces can justify all of the deaths brought about by the militarization of our culture?  Also reparations are necessary not only to provide a bit of justice to the victims but what better way could there be to teach war mongering nations and their taxpayers that they should behave. Current taxpayers in any country that wages war should be billed and pay a war tax...a BIG war tax. People often think with their wallets so a big tax on war would certainly be a way of working toward peace.
    Your bureaucracy hell is something that a lot of people can sympathize with. Boy, I have a lot of stories on that topic. Seems to me that not too long ago I wrote a piece called Things That Bosses Say.  It would indirectly apply to your current woes, maybe. Sometimes I think that a lot of problems could be solved if the people just switched which side of the desk that they are on. Today, you were on the wrong side and they had all the power. I am sure that you could have out IQ’ed them in an instant but intelligence doesn’t count as much as which side of the desk you are on. 
    Hang in there. Things are bound to get better someday, I hope. Your family here is pulling for you.  I have a friend who thinks that the whole country is heading for a total crash in the near future. I don’t know if I agree with him or not, but there will be a lot of cold people without heat, and the new regs for credit card payments are about to kick in, plus the new laws governing bankruptcy, etc....very interesting times we are living in......

    Posted by RMJ from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  10/24  at  07:39 PM

  36. First things first:
    Ms. Helga - I did not write that letter to Cindy Sheehan.  It’s an actual letter from a mom who lost her son in Iraq.  Wow, I sure apologize if I gave the impression that I wrote it.  I found it on ZNet, and thought it would be appreciated here.
    BTW, in 1991, in Nursing School, I saw an anti-smoking film made in Australia.  There were several physicians visiting various patients with “smoking related” illnesses, but who still smoked.  They spent their time berating and humiliating the patients, while emphasizing the dangers of smoking.  I never saw anything like it - and haven’t since. 
    I learned recently, from Helen Caldicott, that Australia is home to the largest CIA base in the world, and suddenly the film made much more sense.
    My “hello’s” to Mr. Helga, Helga.

    Mickey, no worms here, I hope.  Great joke.
    Reminds me of that Monte Python song:
    “Every sperm is sacred, every sperm is great, but when a sperm is wasted, God gets quite irate...”
    It’s gotta be hard to have a blog, sometimes, Mickey.  We get to come and blab and go home… but you’re left to sweep up, I suppose.  Well, we all certainly appreciate this place.  Thanks.

    Rosemarie, wonderful perspective on “experts.” The phrase “Expert Worship” is one I’ll keep handy.

    Posted by joe from Oregon  on  10/24  at  09:34 PM

  37. PS:  Speaking of Monte Python songs, here’s a treat, indeed:

    http://tinyurl.com/djbnv

    G’night all…

    Posted by joe from Oregon  on  10/24  at  09:40 PM

  38. longest link in history - can’t seem to use tinyurl on this. it’s a treat tho. mr garrison with fantastic advice.

    http://www.southparkstudios.com/downloads/display_video.php?vid=http://images.southparkstudios.com/media/video/303/sp303_lovesong.mov&vid_name=Chef’s little song of love

    Posted by michael from scotland  on  10/25  at  04:39 AM

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